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Delivery 604-942-3081 • Saturday, April 16, 2011
He’s taking the long way home
Count ‘em. 80,000 meals for Japan
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City man part of drug bust Alfie Lau
staff reporter
A 44-year-old Burnaby man was among eight people arrested recently after the RCMP’s federal drug enforcement branch conducted an investigation that also led to the seizure of tons of dangerous chemicals, a large amount of cash and three cars. On April 4, the RCMP’s Greater Vancouver drug section, with the assistance of members of the Burnaby and Surrey RCMP, searched six Lower Mainland homes. During the investigation, police seized $250,000 in cash, three cars, approximately 20 kilograms of cocaine, one kilogram of methamphetFor a video of amine, two kilowhat police grams of mariseized, go to juana, two tons www.burnabynow.com of a highly toxic, highly flammable, extremely corrosive chemical which could be used for the production of ecstasy and a large pill press. Police also found other dangerous chemicals stored in an East Vancouver home near a local restaurant. Among the eight arrested were three men on federal parole, including the 44-year-old Burnaby man. He, along with the other two parolees, has since been returned to prison. The eight people arrested in this investigation will likely be facing new charges for offences under the controlled drugs and substances act. The police are continuing their investigation to determine the scope of operations for this group from both a geographic and volume perspective. If you have information for the police call them at 778-571-7535.
VIDEO
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Larry Wright/burnaby now
Reaching out: Kayla Jeong and Jacob Kristos write letters of support to Japan at Burnaby Central Secondary. The Hope Letters project is helping to translate well-wishes from English-speaking people into Japanese.
Translating wishes into action ‘Hope Letters is in the business of hope raising’ Jennifer Moreau staff reporter
Like countless others around the world, former Burnaby resident David Chan was deeply moved by the devestating earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan last month. As messages of consolation came pouring in online from across the globe, Chan realized something: most were written in English. People were reaching out to the Japanese victims, but their messages weren’t getting through. That’s when he came up with Hope
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Letters, a project where people send wellwishes to earthquake survivors, and volunteers translate the sentiments into Japanese and distribute them on the ground. While the letters may not fix a crumbled home or provide medical care, they are empathic expressions of caring at a time of great emotional upheaval. “I can help by donating money, or I can go through relief work, but both of them, it’s a different nature,” Chan says. “Hope Letters is in the business of hope raising. It’s not to do with money, it’s not to do with basic supplies – it’s to raise hope.” And besides, not everyone can donate money, especially children and teens. Hope Letters gives them a way to reach out regardless, he says.
Chan set up a website, www.hopeletters.org, and he’s recruited about 50 volunteers from across Canada and the U.S., mostly through social media. Anyone can write a letter and submit it online, and volunteers will translate them into Japanese. The notes will be sent abroad for distribution through a network of volunteers – mostly English teachers in Japan’s public schools, who can share them with their students. Roughly 3,000 letters have been collected so far, Chan says. Volunteers in Japan can also print batches of letters for distribution to people in evacuation centres. “For the students, many have relocated Letters Page 8
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